As cops flush the booze trade out of Ahmedabad’s seedy lanes before Christmas, bootlegging has swamped the Sardar Patel Ring Road, a site so busy as to deter surreptitious business — at least in the police’s imagination. A spot on the main arterial road of the city has become the principal storehouse of alcohol, said a source who is apprised of the bootleggers’ new strategy.
The pre-festival crackdown on bootleggers follows an earlier campaign against them, which was triggered by the hooch tragedy of July. But the pressure has not incapacitated the booze peddlers; instead, it has made them show ingenuity. A bootlegger, who did not want to be identified, told DNA that the police are targeting his fraternity with an intensity that never marked their efforts in the recent years. So it was safer to move the operations to the outskirts of the city, the bootlegger said.
Since the SP Ring Road is well connected to all parts of the city, the bootleggers can easily route their shipments through multiple locations, he said.As of now, the road has become the hub at which the main supply streams of illicit alcohol are processed: Rajasthan and Daman. “Booze from Abu Road is delivered at fields near Nandasan, Kalol, and Chhatral," another bootlegger said. “Later, it is supplied across the city in smaller consignments through the SP Ring Road."
Similarly, booze procured from Udaipur is routed through Dahegaam, Dhansura, Vahelal, and Kathwada. The consignments from Daman are stored in Sanand and Sarkhej.
Naroda, Odhav, and Vastral are the main entry points into the city for bootleggers carrying small consignments. Anand is used as a transit point for many bootleggers and the booze is stocked at villages between Nadiad and Ahmedabad. The police have so far not identified these routes. “We have heightened the level of patrolling at all the entry points of the city and we will not allow illegal transport of alcohol to happen," a senior cop said.
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